DNC Responds to Trump’s 22% CUT in AIDS Funding

Today, the White House released Trump’s latest budget proposal, which included a 22 percent cut in funding for PEPFAR, a program to treat and fight HIV/AIDS across the globe. In response, DNC LGBTQ Media Director Lucas Acosta issued the following statement:

“Trump’s proposed cut to PEPFAR is just the latest indicator that he has no real intention of making the investments necessary to combat HIV/AIDS. Further, Trump’s proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, totaling more than $1 trillion, would limit the ability of HIV+ people to afford and attain the lifesaving medicine and treatment they need.

“HIV+ people around the world and at here in the U.S. deserve more than lip-service and empty rhetoric.”

Here’s Trump’s real record on HIV/AIDS:

FACT: Trump celebrated a court ruling in favor of a lawsuit he backed to overturn the ACA, endangering coverage for around 130 million people with pre-existing conditions, such as HIV/AIDS.

CBS News: “Around 130 million people in the United States have pre-existing conditions, and without the ACA, insurers would no longer be required to cover those conditions.”

Vox: “To put it simply, the ACA was a ‘watershed moment in the [HIV] epidemic’s history,’ as the Kaiser Family Foundation’s director of global health and HIV policy, Jennifer Kates, told me in 2017. The law was designed to get more people access to health care, including those who were traditionally denied coverage because of ‘preexisting conditions’ like HIV, or who were driven out of the marketplace because their health care was unaffordable. And so under the law, the disease was no longer a barrier to health insurance.”

FACT: The Department of Health and Human Services proposed new rules to eliminate requirements that insurance plans for Medicare beneficiaries cover prescription drugs in “protected classes,” such as HIV/AIDS.

FACT: United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar created a “Conscience and Religious Freedom Division,” giving health care providers the ability to refuse treatment to LGBTQ people if they have a “moral objection.”

HIV+ Magazine: “In January 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created the Division of Conscience and Religious Freedom under the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). This division was created following a 2017 executive order by President Trump directing agencies to expand religious freedom protections in ways that could increase discrimination against LGBT individuals and same-sex couples.”

CDC: “Gay and bisexual men are the population most affected by HIV in the United States. In 2016, gay and bisexual men accounted for 67% of the 40,324 new HIV diagnoses in the United States and 6 dependent areas. Approximately 492,000 sexually active gay and bisexual men are at high risk for HIV”

FACT: Vice President Mike Pence, while governor of Indiana, opposed a needle exchange program and exacerbated the local HIV/AIDS crisis.

Politico: “But when confronted with a spiraling HIV outbreak in his home state as a result of opioid addicts sharing contaminated needles, Pence dragged his feet…”

FACT: Trump’s Department of Defense instituted a “Deploy or Get Out” policy, which would remove HIV+ military personnel from service solely because of their status.

Washington Post: “They tested positive for HIV. Then the military kicked them out.”

Sergeant Nick Harrison, an 18-year veteran of both Afghanistan and Kuwait: “This is about every person living with HIV knowing that they can perform any job in the world, including serving in the military […] I look forward to the day that I can serve my country to the full extent of my abilities, based on my performance and unfettered by unfounded fears and misperceptions about HIV.”

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Will Kohler is one of America's well known LGBT historians, He is also a a accredited journalist and the owner of Back2Stonewall.com.
A longtime gay activist Will fought on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic with ACT-UP and continues fighting today for LGBT acceptance and full equality.
Will’s work has been referenced in notable media venues as BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Daily Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, and Raw Story,
Mr. Kohler is available for comment, interviews and lectures on LGBT History.
Contact: Will@Back2Stonewall.com